


In Your Name

by cancelleria



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23114542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cancelleria/pseuds/cancelleria
Summary: Zelda second guesses Link's affections - did he really love her, or was this just misplaced loyalty? Link allays her fears in a single word.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 208





	In Your Name

It came as a pleasant surprise to Zelda when she found that Link was the more affectionate of the two of them. He was the one who kissed her first thing in the morning and before they went to bed. He was the one who caught her waist while she scrambled eggs for breakfast. He was the one whose hand searched for hers as soon as they got off their horses in the grassy plains. The one who thrilled at tilting her chin to steal a kiss when he thought nobody was looking.

By second nature, Zelda did not think she deserved any of this. Certainly not this idyllic life after the Calamity was destroyed, not when _her_ failure a century ago claimed thousands of lives. Certainly not the affections of the boy she’d slated for death the moment he had assumed the mantle of the Chosen Hero. She sometimes wondered if he was simply humoring her; how could he possibly love her after… after all this? After losing everything and everyone he loved and knew to her incompetence? Perhaps he was only doing all these because she had somehow petulantly decreed him, the way a knight honoured his liege’s commands. Perhaps he felt sorry for her, holding back the greatest evil known to man for a hundred years alone while he was asleep. Perhaps he felt obliged to love her, after seeing her budding confession at the Great Deku Tree. Perhaps it was duty. Perhaps it was pity. She would never know, and it killed her a little inside.

“I love you, Zelda.” Those were his first words to her when they first met after an eternity of danger. His eyes were so sincere and earnest – hadn’t they always been? And Zelda, already charged with emotion, burst into tears at his word, and he embraced her so tightly she could feel her lungs giving out. She had felt so real, so alive, so caught up in the euphoria of feeling again that his words seemed to phase over her like a dream.

So he did say it. But did he know if he _meant it_? Were these feelings truly _his_? Or were they vestiges of his loyalty, battered by amnesia and misconstrued by what he thought he remembered?

He spoke a lot more freely now, an easy smile curving his lips, his eyes crinkling in humour and joy whenever they met hers. He regaled her of tales from his travels, telling her about rounding up lost cuccos, having a picnic on a stone talus, and even feeding a camp of Bokoblins while he wore a parody of a mask. He chased the village kids through Hateno and taught them how to fight with branches and wooden swords. This was what Link could have been had he never been forced into an uncompromising role in history. This was she had robbed him of. She loved him still, perhaps even more so now that she finally saw him uninhibited by duty. But did she deserve this new Link that he had once died for?

Here she was again, her thoughts running amok, skittering like stray marbles in the night. Her nightmares about Ganon and the Champions’ deaths had already weaned off her fears, but her uncertainty about Link still hurt something fierce like a bruise that could never be rubbed away. She kicked the blankets off in frustration, momentarily forgetting about the boy in question right beside her.

He shifted a little behind her, turning to face her back. His arms found her waist, and he pulled her flush to his chest, kissing her shoulder before burying his face in her hair. Her heart sputtered a little; she guessed he would always have that effect on her, no matter how long they would be together. His breathing did not fall back into slumbering cadences, and she wondered if he was about to say something.

  
“Link?” she finally spoke.

“Hmm?” he rubbed his nose against her neck and planted a kiss for good measure. “What is it?”

She hadn’t prepared for this. She thought he was going to say something. Maybe she should tell him he did not have to do this, that he owed her nothing after freeing her. Maybe she should ask him, if he _like liked_ her. His actions and his feelings for her, right now, were completely divorced from each other in her head. But what if he really _did_? Then she would be accusing him of not doing enough to show it, wouldn’t she? Her mind began to thumb through the various acceptable options, scientifically mapping out different scenarios and conclusions the way she was taught to weigh and measure samples in the lab a long, long time ago. But real life wasn’t simply a chart of destinies waiting to be elected, and Link’s feelings weren’t a hypothesis. In the end, she could not think of anything to say without a grimace.

“Nothing,” she answered truthfully. “I just wanted to say your name.”  
  


He sighed and moved his head so his lips pressed against the back of her ears. “Zelda,” he murmured with an absoluteness, her name a sentence complete on its own. Her name, a single word that cradled his entire world.

Zelda was a little shocked by the fullness of his voice, even as it tickled her ears and elicited an involuntary giggle. It was ripe with affection, so weighed in love that it was all that grounded and anchored her in the reality that he _loved_ her.  
  


She teared a little at the realization, and she turned to face him squarely, a stray tear running down her temple from the motion.

“Zelda,” he frowned, his voice wavering. “What’s wrong?” His hand flew to cup her cheek, his calloused thumb wiping the tear away, and she leaned into his touch. He looked so frightened that her heart squeezed at his concern. She managed a watery smile before leaning in to press her lips against his. He moved his lips to melt into hers, kissing her sweetly and gently, as though comforting her. He then kissed the corners of her mouth to affirm this, and then her cheeks.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she pulled away, their faces so close she could feel the warmth of her breath bounce off his skin. He kissed her forehead, and brushed a stray hair out of the way. The concern in his eyes remained. “Everything is right because you’re here.” Her cheeks were suffused with warmth, and she dimly wondered if her face was now puffy from crying a little. “I love you, Link,” she felt the way the words tumbled from her tongue for the first time, and she smiled warmly knowing this would not be the last time she would say this, drawing him into an embrace. Then, because she meant it, and because she wanted to try it again, “I love you so much.” He tightened his hold on her, tracing circles on her back with his thumb, and smiled into her shoulder.

  
“I love you too, Zelda,” he whispered hoarsely, his voice thick with affection. "So much." And this time, she knew.


End file.
